The International Cricket Council (ICC) has finally responded to the controversies surrounding the final of the recently-concluded World Cup. The cricketing world is busy discussing whether England were incorrectly awarded an extra run in the World Cup final. With nine runs needed from the last three balls, England scored six from the third-last ball in a bizarre fashion.

A throw from Martin Guptill accidentally hit the outstretched bat of a diving Ben Stokes, sending the ball to the boundary. Stokes was then awarded six overthrows — four for the resulting boundary and two for taking the double. Those six overthrows helped England tie the game as they finished on 241 too.

The super overs also ended in a tie as both the teams scored 15. England were then handed the World Cup over New Zealand on the virtue of hitting more number of boundaries. Since the conclusion of the game, those six overthrows have become a major point of discussion. The umpires awarded six as Stokes and Adil Rashid were returning for their second run when the overthrow was made.

New Zealand lost the final because of hitting lesser number of boundaries (Credits: Getty)

However, according to Law 19.8, extra runs are only awarded if the batsmen have crossed when the ball is thrown. It means that England should only have received five runs off the delivery, leaving them with four to win off two balls. More importantly, Adil Rashid would have been on strike rather than the in-form Stokes.

But amidst all these, the ICC has declined to get themselves involved in the matter.

“The umpires take decisions on the field with their interpretation of the rules and we don’t comment on any decisions as a matter of policy,” an ICC spokesperson told AAP.

The win, nonetheless, was England’s first ever World Cup triumph after they lost four finals. New Zealand, on the other hand, lost their second consecutive World Cup final.